


Let The Past Die

by RiddellLee



Category: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Ending, Fix-It, Gen, Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23253871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiddellLee/pseuds/RiddellLee
Summary: This is how that scene in the throne room really should have ended.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28





	Let The Past Die

“ _Please.”_

Later, Rey would say it was that single word that had changed everything—but at the time, all she could think of was the desperate look in his dark eyes, the vulnerability and the raw emotion she saw aglow there. The Elite Praetorian Guard lay scattered around them; Emperor Snoke eviscerated right out of his throne. And Kylo Ren stood before her, flush from the heat of battle, his hand outstretched with a plea on his breath.

But still, the First Order ignited the sky with fire and screams silenced by the vacuum of space.

Rey could hear the cacophony of it echo around and _within_ her, the sound a knock against her teeth with sonic sharpness. Her friends. The family she had _found_. She felt the phantom of their pain resonate in her chest, and she needed him—needed _Ben_ to understand.

If it meant saving them, saving _everyone_ —she would go dark.

Light and dark didn’t matter to her anymore than day or night. She had seen the worst side of the Jedi Order and the cruel honesty of the Sith. Neither were without reproach and Rey had seen too much of a cruel world to hide behind naivety now. In the end she cared too much. She cared too much about her friends, the rebellion, protecting what history and truth she could, and she could not just _let the past die_.

So they had danced this game and tried to convince each other of some universal truth. But around her were corpses created by _her_ hand, and she felt tainted all the same.

But—he, Kylo Ren, had killed Snoke. He had thrown caution to the wind and acted in his best self-interest. She admired the humanity of it. But if the destruction of the Empire and the creation of the First Order proved anything, it was that strength, power, and death walked hand in hand with fascist authoritarian regimes that sacrificed individual freedoms for political and economic gain.

This was something Kylo Ren knew, and he knew it well. Rey on the other hand didn’t know much about politics. But she knew what it was like to have nothing to lose and everything to gain and that trapped the Jedi and the Sith in an eternal dance of give and take, thinking they were the arbiters of good and evil when both left a stream of chaos in their wake.

So her options were thus: Decline, and continue to fight against the First Order with their dwindling forces as they had done for years now to no avail—or try something different.

Rey took a deep breath. “They may be a part of your past,” she began slowly, carefully, because he needed to know she wasn’t saying _no_. “But they are my present. I came from nothing,” she said reminding him of what he had told her before. “I had no one, until I found them. They are important to me.”

She could see him processing this, a slight frown creasing his brow, a twist as he bit the inside of his cheek. But he did not interrupt her, so she continued. “If we were to destroy them, we would need to destroy the First Order as well. They are a part of the past too.”

“With Snoke dead we can change the First Order!”

“We could change the alliance, as well,” Rey countered and Kylo narrowed his eyes. “Even if we were to snuff this band of fighters out, _eventually_ , another group would rise from some desolate corner of the system. It’s like Snoke said— _dark rises and light to meet it_. Balance requires both.”

Kylo was still watching her, still quiet, hand still outstretched.

“There are other ways to let the past die. Moving past it—in spite of it, letting go of old grudges and the bitter feelings associated with it. If we work together, we can bring this endless war to an end. Whether by destruction or diplomacy, it ends the rebellion just the same.”

Rey extended a quivering hand, but did not bridge the gap between them. “Will you save my friends?”

Kylo did not respond immediately. He hesitated, doubt scrunching his face, a skeptical smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Your friends would not accept this. You—they do not understand what it is they are asking for. Tell me, what are the demands of your _Rebellion?_ ”

And in truth, Rey had no idea what the demands of General Organa were or what the Rebellion planned to do when they finally succeeded. She wondered if they knew themselves. When everyday was a struggle to stay alive, the future looked so far away…

“We want,” The cacophony ringing in her ears swelled and collapsed into a cohesive melody and she wondered how he could not hear it. “We just want the freedom to _live_.”

And then she was talking more than she had ever talked to anyone in her life. “I grew up with nothing too, you know. I’ve had nothing my whole life. I plucked the bones of a destroyer in exchange for food; trapped, forgotten like the hunks of junk I collected while I waited for the dunes to reclaim me too.” She cast her gaze to the large window, where the Rebellion ship had begun to rotate like a mother hen preparing to defend her chicks, and her breath caught in her throat.

“Have you ever seen the stars? I don’t mean—Not from within the windows of a starship or in some hologram, I mean from the ground, far from the lights of civilization. A place where your feet sink into the warm sand, leaving you stumbling and unsteady and in the starlight you can almost see the dunes shift as if they were waves on a sea.” She returned her gaze to Kylo Ren and she knew he had seen the Rebellion ship as well. “It all looks so far away and, for a moment, all of the stories you grew up with, about the Empire and Skywalker are just as old and forgotten as the starships sinking into the desert.” In spite of everything, she smiled. “And for the first time, you feel safe.”

“What would you have instead?” Kylo gestured in his frustration, dropping his hand and it took everything in her to keep her palm extended. “There will always be those in power and those who they rule over! It is not a matter of if but rather _when_ and the Jedi were foolish to think otherwise.”

“And so the alternative is to destroy everything? Crush all resistance? The culture of the Empire, the First Order, and whatever is to come—they design cruel efficient systems that take advantage of the labor of those unable to fight back! You do not see the pain your precious First Order has caused!”

“And you do not understand the chaos of maintaining order in a universe so much larger than you or what the Empire provides to the system and—”

“None of that matters when you aren’t free to live your own life! Do you want a galaxy that cowers in fear at the very mention of you and constantly dreams of your destruction? Or do you want a universe that is proud to do their part for the Empire.”

“First Order.”

“Whatever it’s called!” Rey knew they were running out of time, but still he hadn’t taken her hand and she would not part from the conversation unless she _had_ to. “What is the point if we’re not making the galaxy better than we found it? Don’t you want things to _change?_ ”

“You want to make the galaxy change,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.

“No, _We—_ We can make the galaxy change,” Rey said, hating the tearful sound that clogged her throat, but the Rebellion ship was _coming_ now no matter what, and the First Order would follow them down to that planet, and everyone was counting on her to get out of this alive.

“That sounds an awful lot like fascism,” he teased but doubt was written clearly in the lines of his face now. She could feel the sudden indecision within him and knew it mirrored her own.

“Can you let the past die?” Rey wasn’t sure he heard her whispered plea as the ship rocked beneath her feet, warp light crackling across the sky. She felt resolve harden from across the room but for what she didn’t know, focusing the force at her feet to keep herself upright. And then she felt a large warm hand around hers and their Star Destroyer cracked in half.


End file.
